I am proud to be a member of the Global Sisterhood.
To find sisters everywhere I go. To find my heart’s cry in other eyes. My suffering in other bodies.
I was in Edinburgh alone for a day. I took a tour of the Edinburgh castle in the morning. There were two other solo women. The bonds of singleness and womanhood drew us together, and together we explored the city.
We landed at a bar at the end of the day. When the sparkling wine loosened our lips, the same heart cries came out of all three of us and built up a shelter where three single women could rest for the night.
We were all in our thirties and feeling
The push from family to race against our aging bodies
The pressure of not being whole on our own
The gutting pain of heartbreak, its doorway to
The ruts of despair that run under our feet
That swallow us up when our heart gets too weak to keep us afloat
The raw strength of that same heart,
Convicted that Woman is independent of Man,
Yet stops when he chooses us and starts up again only for him
The knowledge that this world was not designed by us or for us
And that we alone create from within
Three women sharing shelter for the night
Sharing in labor pains, and menstrual cramps, and heartbreak
Delivering new convictions new hope new spirit to carry us around the next bend